221.33 and 96.20 - these numbers should be the talking points ahead of Australia's second Test against India at Sydney, but they likely won't be. They'll be overshadowed by headlines about 'what happened four years ago'. To quickly get this out of the way - yes, India suffered gross injustice in the Sydney Test of the 2007-08 tour. But four years have passed since then, and much has changed for both countries. It's time to bury that ghost and get on with the task at hand - of equalling the series for India, and extending their lead for Australia. Which brings us back to 221.33 and 96.20 - the averages of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman at the Sydney Cricket Ground. From 1992 onwards, whenever India have played at Sydney, one or both of them, have got hundreds. Laxman has played 3 Tests in Sydney and scored a hundred each time. Tendulkar has played four Tests and missed scoring a hundred just once. Each of his three hundreds was unconquered, and in each one he went beyond 140. And yet, neither Tendulkar nor Laxman, have won a match in Sydney.

The Teams:

India: The indications are that India will go in with an unchanged eleven into the second Test. There are two sides to this: on the one hand, it's good to see the team management not go for any changes based on one loss and back their judgement that the players picked for the first Test are good enough to deliver. On the other hand, it leaves a feeling of discomfort for those who believe that the eleven picked for Melbourne was not ideal in the first place. The only place in question, really, is the Number 6 spot. Virat Kohli has drawn plenty of praise in his still nascent international career, but if he wants to hold the torch that Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman are set to pass on, he has to do something about his performances away from home. It hasn't helped that his technique hasn't looked as assured in Australia - and West Indies before that - as it has in India. The challenge from Rohit Sharma and his classical technique is a strong one, and it's fair to say Sydney might be Kohli's last chance on this tour if he fails again.

The bowling attack looks more settled, and they gave a good account of themselves in Melbourne for the most part. Their only failure was in cleaning up the tail - a problem that has haunted Indian attacks since time immemorial. India will have to bank on the bowlers doing a decent job again, and the batsmen playing at the world-class level they are capable of.

Australia: Australia have said they will go in with the same eleven that won the first Test at Melbourne, and on balance that seems the best call they could have made. Given the pacers performance in Melbourne, it was very very tempting to drop Lyon and go for an all-pace attack at Sydney. Tempting perhaps, but not prudent. Sydney has historically been much more spinner-friendly than Melbourne, and if Australia bowl last, they will need the services of Lyon. In any case, managing over-rates with four fast bowlers would have been a nightmare for Michael Clarke.

Australia will know that even though they won the first Test, they didn't check as many boxes as they would have liked - the most glaring among them being the top-order contributions. Ricky Ponting scored two fine half-centuries even if he didn't look the Ricky Ponting of old, while Michael Hussey made another gutsy contribution with people calling for his head. However, the fact that Ponting's and Hussey's names have cropped up in retirement debates, is because they haven't been as consistent as they or Australia would have liked. Inconsistency, in fact, plagues Australia's entire middle order. Marsh scored 141 and 81 in his first 2 Test innings - and 65 runs overall in his next 5. Michael Clarke has played some sublime innings since Australia's tour of Sri Lanka, but averages less than 41.

Final Word:

Of the two sides, the one under more pressure is undoubtedly India. They have lost five consecutive overseas Tests now, and if a sixth one follows in Sydney, then all the good work done in the 2000s decade towards rectifying the home-and-away imbalance will take several massive backward steps. Australia need to battle their own inconsistencies, but it must be easier to do with a 1-0 lead.